Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest. Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path. All the while, Stenwold has been training youthful agents to fight the Wasp advance, and the latest recruits include his niece, Che, and his mysterious ward, Tynisa. When his home is violently attacked, he is forced to send them ahead of him and, hotly pursued, they fly by airship to Helleron, the first city in line for the latest Wasp invasion.Stenwold and Che are Beetle-kinden, one of many human races that take their powers and inspiration each from a totem insect, but he also has allies of many breeds: Mantis, Spider, Ant, with their own particular skills. Foremost is the deadly Mantis-kinden warrior, Tisamon, but other very unlikely allies also join the cause.
As things go from bad to worse amid escalating dangers, Stenwold learns that the Wasps intend to use the newly completed railroad between Helleron and Collegium to launch a lightning strike into the heart of the Lowlands. Then he gathers all of his agents to force a final showdown in the engine yard ...
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At first glance, you may think that Empire in Black and Gold is just another epic fantasy. An oppressive empire intent on taking over the world, some young heroes - guided by an older mentor - determined to stand in its way, and so on. Same old, same old. Then you discover
Tchaikovsky has created a world populated by humans with a twist.
The Lowlands are populated by insect kinden, humans who have developed different insect traits. For example, Ant-kinden operate as a hive-mind, Wasp-kinden can fly and use stingers, and Mantis-kinden are deadly warriors, blessed with prodigious speed, skill and such natural weapons as spines jutting from their arms. The techniques by which the insect-kinden are able to accomplish such feats is simply known as meditation:
Unlike most other epic fantasy novels, Empire in Black and Gold is not set in a pseudo medieval universe. Instead, the Lowlands more closely resembles an early industrial era community; we have artificers, secret spy sects, duelling societies, the Olympic-like Great Games, gangsters, cities fuelled by commerce and industry, and such technological advances as orthopters, lighter-than-air fliers, repeating crossbows, grenades, automobiles, engine-mills, and a lightning engine locomotive. Magic plays a very understated role in this world.
Empire in Black and Gold is a well rounded novel. It is well written and entertaining whilst not sacrificing great characterisations and intricate world building. Adrian Tchaikovsky has brought a refreshing angle to the epic fantasy genre, one which I am eagerly waiting to read more of.